I don’t know PT, but I’m sure there will be one – and another and another and another. Humans have never had a problem finding something (or someone) to hate. We’re also pretty good at convincing each other to join the party…

Do the education authorities plan to remove all reference to the American Civil War, it’s leaders, the battles the loses and pretend it never happened? Seems as narrow minded as the Nazis book burnings of 1933, and just as dangerous!
What the hell is happening in the U S of A? Does anybody know or care enough to do something?
The eyes of the world are upon you, and there is much shaking of the heads!
It’s all very sad!

Educators don’t skip references to the Civil War, but it was certainly taught differently in different parts of the country when I was young. Growing up in a sort-of -Southern state, I was taught that the war was fought primarily over states’ rights and the right to secede from the union. Northerners were taught that the war was fought over slavery. And where you grow up certainly affects your thinking about things, especially if you lack the education to learn otherwise.

I don’t know what’s happening aside from Trump’s election and encouragement of attitudes and actions that might have been restrained before. Plus for several years now we’ve been in the throes of “political correctness” which in its extreme means you can’t say or do anything that might somehow offend someone else. At least that what the Millennials say.

The American Civil War ended in 1865. Much of the hate, racism, and suspicion did not.

There is much shaking of heads right here in the US. The world should remember that less than 50% of the popular vote went to Donald Trump. And much of that support has eroded.

No responsible people are planning to alter history, but many see statues honoring those who defended slavery as icons that would best be displayed in museums or private areas where they do not serve as symbols of racism that are offensive a large segments of our citizenry.

How many statues are offensive to American Indians? Gen. Custer statues? Mexican immigrants? The Alamo maybe? Tolerance has truly left the building. I saw more hateful images in the local holocaust museum than any where else… should they be closed too? ISIS is offended by Christian statues, are they justified when they destroy historical artifacts of Christendom? You just can’t fix stupid.

I’m with you, Gabbygeezer. Hardly anyone wants to destroy history, but rather move Confederate monuments to museums and the like instead of government grounds where they might look like they deserve official veneration. This cartoonist is being disingenuous IMO.

And many see those statues as honoring the dead (half the nation) who fought bravely and died defending their way of life, their homes and families, and what they thought was right. They bled red American blood just as the Northerners did. Are they due less respect just because they lost the war? If we don’t present both sides, we aren’t accurately depicting history. If we’re going to hide away any evidence of the Civil War, then let’s be fair and hide it all away

. . . fought bravely and died defending their way of life, their homes and families, and what they thought was right.

Yes, but consider that way of life. It was built on slavery, the economic foundation of the South’s economy and the bulwark of its prosperity. Consider what slavery entailed: Owning human beings, buying and selling them, breaking up families, denying them education, subjecting them to torture, disfigurement or death with no access to any form of justice. All Southerners benefitted from that free labor and even if they did not own a slave, they surely aspired to do so. Confederate monuments belong next to the Holocaust museum in my opinion.

At first I held the opinion that history is history, like it or not. Cannot change the facts so leave the statues and monuments alone. Then recently I started thinking about it a bit more. We don’t erect statues of mean people, those who cost thousands of lives of innocent people, such as Hitler. Granted, Hitler wasn’t American, but I doubt they have any statues of Hitler over in Germany. The logic is the same, though. Erecting memorials for a person, or group of people, who supported and fought for slavery…

But then I go back to the thinking that history cannot be changed. If anything, perhaps add more details about the person or monument so viewers understand who they really were. Honestly, I cannot think of anyone who was particularly “evil.” Perhaps Andrew Jackson as he hated Native Americans and did all he could to kill them, including women and children, and take their land. I wonder if there are any statues of Jackson?

Yes, I’m still thinking as I mentioned before that the best compromise is to leave the statues where they are and just add plaques or signs that explain the history, the thinking then and now, etc. Move only those on government property to avoid any appearance of endorsement. What I hate is that defending the statues in any way puts me on the side of the white supremacists, and I really, really don’t like that.

And it’s occurred to me that if some people want to take down all the statues, what are they going to do about Stone Mountain in Ga?

If everyone tore down everything they didn’t like, we’d be back in the Stone Age, living among the ruins of the “enlightened” 21st Century.